Regina Cohen - April 18, 1982

Being Abused by the SS

Your browser does not support the audio element.

Yes, I do.

Almost lost an eye. Uh...

Who kicked you?

Uh, one of the SS. Because a uh, they had some Russian uh, either prisoner of war or uh, workers there too. This was more in a city--was not barbed wire. It was--they could get by. And one of them handed me some matches--handed me something as he walked by. He just put something in my hand. And a civilian German saw it from the next building out from an open window. But I threw it away. I wasn't caught with things. But I was thrown down and I was kicked. And there were abrasions here and here, and, and this here. And I nearly lost my eye because of that. And uh, I was a little out of my head for about three days then. And then they got us all together and they marched us out of the city--nobody knew where, but into a train again. Another cattle car. We were in the train at that specific spot--there, there was not even a station. It was somewhere out of the way. And it was being bombed all the time. And uh, we got split up. Only part--a, a few, a--about a hundred and fifty of us got to go one place. I didn't know it at the time. And in--and the rest of them went to another camp. And I don't know to this day the exact name of that camp what I was shipped to. I don't know the reason--whether I was sick--to me--it was a factory. It was one big massive building. It was a factory. I don't know if I'm--didn't know to pronounce it, but to me it sounded like Ranch Mira. It was one place. We were uh, it was a big yard uh, you went into the building through the gate and they took us to the top most floor and I think it was the fourth floor where it was converted into a huge sleeping--living quarter. Uh, we were always locked up in this--just outside as you come up the landing on--at the stairs were uh, two toilets and, like wash basins to get cleaned up in the toilet. And uh, to ride up toward the door, and that's where you got in. And just before the, the massive room starts up on both corners like, of this, each side of the door there's like small room cubicles. Room one is for the uh, Gestapo, the SS woman...